¹“Come down and sit in the dust , virgin daughter of Babylon.

Sit on the ground without a throne , daughter of the Chaldeans .

For you will no longer be called tender and delicate .

²Take the millstones and grind flour .

Remove your veil , lift up your skirt , uncover your legs ,

and wade through the rivers .

³Your nakedness will be uncovered .

Yes , your shame will be seen .

I will take vengeance ,

and will spare no one .”

⁴Our Redeemer , the LORD of Armies is his name ,

is the Holy One of Israel .

⁵“Sit in silence, and go into darkness ,

daughter of the Chaldeans .

For you shall no longer be called

the mistress of kingdoms .

⁶I was angry with my people .

I profaned my inheritance

and gave them into your hand .

You showed them no mercy .

You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged .

⁷You said, ‘I will be a princess forever ,’

so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart ,

nor did you remember the results.

⁸“Now therefore hear this , you who are given to pleasures ,

who sit securely,

who say in your heart ,

‘I am, and there is no one else besides me .

I won’t sit as a widow,

neither will I know the loss of children .’

⁹But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day :

the loss of children and widowhood.

They will come on you in their full measure ,

in the multitude of your sorceries ,

and the great abundance of your enchantments .

¹⁰For you have trusted in your wickedness .

You have said, ‘No one sees me .’

Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you .

You have said in your heart , ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me .’

¹¹Therefore disaster will come on you .

You won’t know when it dawns.

Mischief will fall on you .

You won’t be able to put it away .

Desolation will come on you suddenly ,

which you don’t understand .

¹²“Stand now with your enchantments

and with the multitude of your sorceries ,

in which you have laboured from your youth ,

as if you might profit ,

as if you might prevail .

¹³You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels .

Now let the astrologers , the stargazers , and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you .

¹⁴Behold , they are like stubble .

The fire will burn them .

They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame .

It won’t be a coal to warm at

or a fire to sit by .

¹⁵The things that you laboured in will be like this :

those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way .

There will be no one to save you .